As the race reached its closing kilometres, many of the teams tried to organise their sprint trains at the head of the peloton, and with two kilometres to go Sir Bradley Wiggins took to the front, although his teammates couldn’t organise themselves behind him.

The riders headed into the long tunnel within the last couple of kilometres where a crash held up the likes of Kittel and Cavendish, leaving Sky’s Viviani and Swift to battle with Tinkoff and Lampre in the sprint.

Trek-Segafredo’s Giacomo Nizzolo secured his second podium finish in two days, coming behind Modolo to secure and Italian one-two-three, while Cavendish recovered to finish 10th on the stage.